Report on the Kingdom of Jornich
Commissioned by the late Roderick, King of Antwerpen Prepared by Normant, School of Antwerpen Scholar The Kingdom of Jornich is a little known, short lived kingdom centered around a town, Isel, bordering the Slawunt Forest, northwest of Nantwich. It existed from its founding under King Urel I, in 493 AE until the death of its final king, Urel III, in 566 AE. The task of discovering and recording all of the information of this relatively unknown and obscure kingdom has proven itself quite difficult and, therefore, I would like to apologize now before any inaccuracies are discovered and offer the reason that this was all I could discover on my short journey before the outbreak of war ended it prematurely. I will tell Jornich’s story through the life of it’s kings, as it is the most effective method of recording the information in a semi chronological order. Urel I – Ruled, 493-501. Urel I founded the kingdom when he organized the town of Isel’s militia into an effective fighting force and used it to invade and conquer neighboring towns with ease. He was quickly able to capture four of the neighboring towns before he stopped, instead having to focus his efforts on bringing his new territories under control, which tied up the majority of his manpower. Reports vary, but the most credible sources I could find place his army at between two hundred and four hundred soldiers. A sizable number considering the small number of subjects within Isel and the surrounding villages, only about twenty two hundred people. Regardless, throughout the process of establishing control over his new subjects, Urel created the Senate, a council designed to advise the king on issues of governance, foreign affairs, and affairs of the people. The council was made up of ten senators, two from each town. One selected was to be selected from the town’s elite by it’s Governor to represent the issues of the ruling class and of the wealthy merchants and tradesmen, and another was to be elected by direct vote from the people of the town to represent the issues of the poor, the laborers, and the shopkeepers. After a few years of instability, Urel was able to spend his final five years peacefully, with a kingdom that recognized him and was able to cooperate with itself. Urel II – Ruled, 501-505. Urel II, Urel’s eldest son, inherited the throne shortly after his father’s peaceful death in 501 AE. He was a military man, having been raised as the leader of his father’s troops, and was ill suited to rule. After a fairly uneventful rule where he would drain the treasury by outfitting his troops with only the best weapons and armor, he was assassinated by his brother in 505. Tisk I – Ruled, 505-525. After his brother’s death, he ascended to the throne with the support of the Senate, with whom he had many connections. Early in his reign, he faced difficulties with his soldiers, whose wages had been cut to stop the hemorrhaging of the treasury. He was forced to give in to their demands, and raise their wages to what they had been under his brother’s rule. This weakness in the face of the army set a dangerous precedence, and Tisk would spend the rest of his reign having to combat the growing influence of the army, with little success. The main focus of his reign would be the growth of the towns under his control, and establishing trading connections and alliances with the surrounding kingdoms. This goal, on the other hand, he would carry out with great success. Establishing trading contracts that stretched all the way to Antwerpen by the end of his reign. By the end of his reign, Isel would grow to approximately fifty seven hundred people and would be surrounded by strong stone walls. His other towns would all grow as well, but I could not find any numbers on the numerical growth. Tisk’s reign would end peacefully, with him dying on his deathbed at the age of fifty one years old. Although his heir’s succession would not be quite so peaceful. Toren I – Ruled, 525-528. After Tisk’s death, it was expected that his son, also named Tisk, would inherit the throne. This was assumed by Toren, Tisk I’s younger brother, as well. But the generals of the army feared that Tisk would carry on his father’s peaceful ways of interacting with other countries, and could not have that. They had Tisk kidnapped and forced Toren onto the throne, appointing themselves to the Senate to great outcry from the people and nobility together. All of this faced Toren with a situation he couldn’t control, especially after 527 when the generals forced him into declaring war on a neighboring town, taking the army, who controlled the nation under martial law, away from home, leaving Toren with none of the resources he needed. Little would be accomplished in his reign, with one foreign town being captured at great cost. Trade with foreign nations would deteriorate and the four other towns would gain a great deal of autonomy in this time. Toren’s reign would be ended by the same people who started it. After discovering he was negotiating with the town Governors to overthrow the military power, the generals marched their army back to Jornich, rounded up the governor and their associates and took them before the king in his hall, in Isel. Once there, they demanded that the king have them executed for treason, and when the king refused and attempted to order the generals to give up their commands in return for a comfortable life in the countryside, with an income from the state, they ordered their soldiers to take the king into custody. The king’s bodyguard fought nobly, so few of them against so many traitorous soldiers. All ten of them were slaughtered defending the king’s escape. Taking a claimed two hundred soldiers to the grave with them. This number can be assumed to be exaggerated, but such a high number means they must have done quite well in their duties. Regardless of the inflation of their abilities, their dutiful work would be enough to allow the king to flee. The story said that he flew to Porten, but this is uncomfirmed, and no one truly knows where he went. But the generals never found him. Toren II – Ruled, 528-541. After his father’s flight, Toren II was offered the throne by the generals, on the condition that it would be their kingdom, and he would be a figurehead. He agreed for fear of being executed if he didn’t. Toren II spent his reign trying to find his father and not be killed by the generals for doing so. In 541 AE, he left Isel on route to a neighboring kingdom for a gala he had supposedly been invited to. Little did the generals know, but he had apparently found a lead on his father and, on the road, his loyal bodyguard killed the soldiers sent to escort them and he disappeared, never to be seen again. Tisk II – Ruled, 541-565. Toren’s son would be left in a difficult position after his father’s disappearance. The generals would place him under house arrest in the palace. To insure his loyalty, the generals kept his palace well stocked with women and wine, and made sure he rarely had to appear in public. He lived this life comfortably up until 563 AE, when some rebels wishing to restore the monarchy overthrew the regime of the generals and their successors by burning down the capital building while the Senate was in session. With the support of the governors, the King was restored to power. But now, being a drunk with no education in ruling, Tisk had difficulties retaking the throne despite his own best efforts. After less than two years as an actual ruler, Tisk died due to extreme stress. Urel III – Ruled, 565-566. Tisk’s nephew, Urel, only fourteen was placed on the throne wholly unprepared for the issues facing him. On the one hand, the kingdom's treasury was in ruins, with the generals having expended it all on the army. On the other hand, the army was also in ruins, with the Governors and his uncle having almost all of the officers and most of the experienced sergeants executed. Leaving only young, inexperienced soldiers and officers to fill their roles. Before Urel could try to change anything, though, neighboring Yaren invaded, capturing Isel and executing the young king and his senators, as well as moving on to capture the other four originals towns and the now three other towns under Isel’s control. And with that, Jornich died. The fates of the descendants of Toren I and II, if there are any, is unknown. Their fates were never discovered, and on my journeys I heard nothing relating to them. For immediate presentation to Orik, Regent of Antwerpen.